Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-08-27
Bee 7 ersus Butterfly.

II QI observation-disclosures q IuouS CIV
amaze of wonder and delight IT.:
EldiaGng her rosy face.
%tIler pretty stepdaughter stood
Il a white pine table stamping lit
lie golden pats Of butter with the
initial CO
Who do you think this letters
from, Nell?-Lucian Lisle, your
fathers second couSin!' said Mrs.
Graham, answering her own ques-
tion, with a delighted chucklc. 'Ile
is coming ont 10 see some of his
coal lands near us, ami he wants to
know If LII take him to board
Take HIM if you think best,
mothcr,' said Nell, inspecting her
last sG' with her curly, golden head
:, triliv on ono side. Our peaches
and grapes are fit Tor a king and
although you have a touch OF your
rheumatism again, why, Pm strong
and love to work.
Work! that's Just what you
mustn't do!' said Mrs. Graham, ex
citedly. You know Sally Bean
was in Boston last winter and she's
been telling NE all about Lucian
.sLisle. She says he's az rich as
Cresus, and young and handsome
besides, aud all the girls in Bos-
ton are setting their caps forzhim.
Now, | want you TO show him that
you're as good as any those Boston
girls, il we are poor; SO YOU must
40 nothing but LOOK pretty and
play the piano and paint, and act
as If you couldn't milk COW to
save your life
$50 you want me to let you do all
The work when you are half sick,
nd recommend myself to MIR.
Lisle'S approval liz playing the
part of "a lieartless buttertlyf' said
Nell, her cheeks flushing with in
dignantpink.
Now, don't take it that way
Nell pleaded her stepmother,
wringing her plump hands in tee
bic protest.. Il sban't suffer from
overwolk. III get Gretchen KurtZ
to help me with the bouscwork,an
Tom Murphy can see to the peach
es and grapes
slcannot cUnseDt!' said Nell. de-
cidedly.
But Mrs. Graham SINK into the
nearest char, and sobbed and
walled, till Nell, who loved the rosy
little matron dearly, for the sake OF
sweet peace Withdrew her refusal.
sAnd, Nell,' said Mrs. Graham,
starting up as brightly as q Grim
sen poppy after the rain, be sure
you don't go on about lie beauty OF
the prairieS, as you have way CT
doing. Mr.. Lisle has been to .En-
rope and California, and every.
where, and of course he won't
think the prairiesaDy great shakes
Some fourteen years before, MIR.
Graham, who had lost his fortune
in the East, came to retrieve 1t in
the West.
But his lovely little wife, Nellie's
blue eyed prototype, was seized
with malarial fe, er,which scorched
the life out of her, as the sun
scorched lily.
MIR. Graham, heart broken and
discouraged, was taken i'll with the
same fever; but, thanks 10 the pa
tient care of his landlady and her
daughter, he recovered.
In his loneliness and gratitude,
what was more natural than to
marry the daughter, who, although
beneath him In station,wasa pretty,
kind hearted girl, and had received
"a fair education at the publicschool.
She made him a good wife and
his little pink .;tnd-white blossom OF
daughter u good mother; and
thanks to an uncle, who had be-
aueathed her fourishing little
fruit farm, they were making a fair
start in life, when MIR. Graham
died of a SUI stroke,
Mrs. Graham took NJ, the burden
OF life ard strained every nerve to
give her dainty little stcp-daughter
il suitable education.
But her amaZement and sorrow
were great when Nell, after grad
uatlng with high honor and bear
ing off the first prize in music, de
clarud her intention of taking the
burden of overseeing tho fruit farm
upon her own young shoulders.
you worked for me, mother,now
] am going to work iorl ou,' She de-
clared, resolutely. Besides, | be-
l,eve | have a talent for farming,
and | should like it ever SO much
better than trying to grind a little
music into the souls and fingers OF
children who haven't the least na.
tur;,l capacity for it,
So Nell had her way,and besides
laying up a stock Of radiant health
)by her outdoor life, had almost
doubled the revenues from their
orchards and graperies.
She was very 10th to give up this
busy life, even for a time, and sub
side into one of those human lilies
who neither toll nor spin; but she
did nothing by halves, and having
once consented to play the part,
prepared for it with a will.
She wore huge mittens,filled with
bran, on her hands, till they were
asrosily white as sea shells. She
washed away the little golden
brown freckles that accumulated
the creamy fairness of her skin.